Weeds writer/producer Stephen Falk just uploaded this casting breakdown for the pilot of Modern Family, showing off some temp/wishlist actors the creators had in mind for all of the major roles. Holy moly. Andy Richter as Mitchell! Coach himself, Craig T. Nelson as Jay! Lisa Kudrow as Claire! Tony Hale as Cam! Can you imagine how different this show would be if they had Andy Richter and Tony Hale playing Mitchell and Cam? Good lord.
But it is good to see that they had Ty Burrell in mind for Phil the entire time. I can’t imagine anyone else playing that role as well as he does. In any case, this is a pretty fascinating look into how different a show can start out in the creator’s head from what it actually ends up being. Also: Mitchell was supposed to be a dentist? [via]